1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passenger protecting structure of a vehicle body upper portion of an automobile, and more particularly, to a structure for protecting a passenger by a vehicle body upper portion having a structural member such as a roofside rail or a header.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is proposed a structure for protecting a passenger by a vehicle body upper portion of an automobile including a roofside rail which is a structural member extending in the forward and backward direction or longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, with an intention to reduce the amount of displacement and a peak load for energy absorption (Japanese Patent Appln. Public Disclosure No. 7-246953). In this protecting structure, the roofside rail includes an outer panel, an inner panel disposed with a space from the outer panel in the inward direction of a passenger compartment, i.e., inwardly of the outer panel and an energy absorbing panel having a smaller thickness than that of the outer panel and that of the inner panel and disposed with a space from the inner panel inwardly thereof, the flanges respectively of the outer panel, the inner panel and the energy absorbing panel being overlapped and joined such that a section cut at a vertical imaginary plane presents a closed structure.